Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot Mauna Keaon the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset too…depending upon weather conditions. Here's the Haleakala Crater webcam on Maui…if it's available.Tropical Cyclone activity in the eastern and central Pacific– Here’s the latest weather information coming out of theNational Hurricane Center, covering the eastern north Pacific. You can find the latest tropical cyclone information for the central north Pacific (where Hawaii is located) by clicking on this link to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. A satellite image, which shows the entire ocean area between Hawaii and the Mexican coast…can be found here. The 2012 hurricane season is over in the eastern and central Pacific…resuming on May 15th and June 1st 2013.

Aloha Paragraphs

Flash Flood Watch for Oahu and Maui County…through
6pm this eveningHigh Surf Warning for north and west shores of Kauai,
Niihau…and the north facing shores of Oahu, Molokai
and Maui – starting at 6pm this evening

High Surf Advisory in effect at 6pm this evening, for the
Waianae coast of Oahu, and the Kona coast on the Big Island

Small Craft Advisory for a building northwest swell into
Monday…from 6am Monday through 6am Tuesday

A cold front will bring heavy rains with localized
flooding…Oahu and Maui County

Here's the looping radar image for Hawaii…redis heaviest
rain, then yellow, green and blue is lighter

Southwest to south winds will prevail, locally quite strong…ahead of a cold front that's on its way towards Oahu this evening. Here's a weather chart showing a large high pressure system located to the northeast of Hawaii. At the same time, we see deep storm low pressure systems far to our northwest…with an associated cold front, whose leading edge has passed over Kauai, and is now heading towards Oahu.

Satellite imagery shows the cold front moving slowly southeast. This front is helping to keep our winds south through southwest, which have become locally quite strong and gusty. We find ourselves in an increasingly unstable environment now, with the continued chance of heavy showers falling locally, with a flash flood watch in effect now over the Kauai end of the chain…through Monday afternoon.

Here's a closersatellite image, showing lots of clouds around, both at high and low altitudes over the islands…mostly over Kauai and Oahu. We see those heavy shower bearing clouds, and the high cirrus above…those brighter white ones on these satellite photos. Clouds have brought locally heavy precipitation over Kauai, which is falling over Oahu this evening too. We see showery clouds being pulled up over the island chain ahead of the cold front…called prefrontal showers. The winds from the deeper tropics to our south and southwest, are setting the stage for flooding rainfall, at least in places, especially as the cold front remains over the state.

Here's how its looking on this Sunday evening: moisture laden winds from our south through southwest are carrying rainy/showery clouds into the state, prompted by this active Pacific cold front. An area of heavy rains arrived ahead of the cold front itself, over Kauai. The front is trailing this heavy rain producing area by a short distance, as it migrates down into the state. The cold front, and this prefrontal area will merge, providing the good chance of flooding precipitation…with now only a slight chance of thunderstorms.

The bulk of this rainfall has fallen over Kauai and Oahu today, although should reach Maui County into Monday…reaching down to the Big Island perhaps by Monday evening into Tuesday morning. The combination of the prefrontal area of rain, and the cold front lagging slightly behind, will bring substantial rainfall totals, and intense rainfall rates. We will move past this wet weather event by Tuesday morning, as the front clears the state. The trade winds will fill in behind the front, lasting through the rest of the new work week, carrying leftover moisture to our windward sides. The leeward sides will grade back into a fairly typical trade wind weather pattern, with much less rainfall…if any. As is always the case in situations like these, there will be more adjustments to the current outlook, with fine tuning measures necessary…stay tuned. Here's the looping radar image here, so we can keep track of showers and rain, as they arrive over the islands. I'll be back this evening with more updates, Aloha for now…Glenn.

North and South Indian Oceans: Tropical cyclone 13S remains active in the South Indian Ocean, located approximately 500 NM north-northeast of La Reunion Island. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) shows this cyclone with 45 knot sustained winds, with gusts to 55 knots. 13S will remain active over the next 120 hours, heading towards Madagascar…and swinging southward offshore to the east of that large island. Here's the graphical track map, along with a satellite image.Interesting:Dogs and wolves are actually from the same species: Canis lupis. Physically and genetically, these two canines are similar, but behaviorally, it has been difficult for biologists to understand why wolves remain fiercely wild, while dogs are content on being man's companion.

While domestication of the dog plays a huge role in the differences between the two, according to new research, evolutionary biologist Kathryn Lord at the University of Massachusetts Amherst suggests the different behaviors are related to the animals' earliest sensory experiences and the critical period of socialization.

After observing responses of seven wolf pups and 43 dog pups to familiar and novel smells, sounds, and sights from 2-7 weeks old, researchers confirmed that both wolf pups and dogs develop senses at the same time: smell at two weeks, hearing at four weeks and vision by six weeks on average. However, what varies between these pups is the four-week developmental window called the "critical period of socialization."

Socialization is the process in which animals learn to recognize and interact with other species in their environment. Wild wolf pups will begin to explore at two weeks old, when they are still blind and deaf, and must rely primarily on their sense of smell, whereas dogs begin this period at four weeks.

When the socialization window is open, wolf and dog pups begin walking and exploring without fear and will retain familiarity throughout their lives with those things they contact. But as the period advances, fear will increase and after the socialization window closes, new sights, sounds and smells will elicit a fear response.

Because each subspecies experiences the world with different senses, this period is extremely different, and likely leads to different developmental paths, says Lord. Lord is the first to report that wolf pups are still blind and deaf when they begin to walk and explore their environment.

She also notes: "When wolf pups first start to hear, they are frightened of the new sounds initially, and when they first start to see they are also initially afraid of new visual stimuli. As each sense engages, wolf pups experience a new round of sensory shocks that dog puppies do not."

These findings lead to an alternative explanation for the difference in dogs' and wolves' abilities to form interspecies social attachments, such as those with humans, Lord says. This new information has implications for managing wild and captive wolf populations, she says.